Sober Sunrise - AA Speaker Podcast

My Parakeet Died With Two Years Sobriety - AA Speaker - Jack H.

Jack H. has been sober since 1958, drank with a parakeet named Petey who learned poker language, and says he's still got every defect of character he was born with — he's just learned what to do with them.
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Jack started drinking Tennessee homebrew at nine, joined the Navy at 18, got court-martialed three times before he was 21, and convinced his wife he owned a $2 million tobacco plantation when he didn't have $15. He drank with a parakeet named Petey who learned every word from the poker table, got stepped on flat at 250 pounds, and was revived by a jigger of whiskey — Petey died with two years sobriety. Jack did 90 days in AA the first time, drove to his sponsor's house to announce he wasn't an alcoholic, hit a car on the way home, and spent nine months back out before the program stuck. He's been carrying drunks under both arms ever since, says he's still a proud egotistical rebel, and closes with the story of a young Indian who got kicked off the reservation and came back in a Cadillac — "How?" "Chapter Five."Jack H. from San Jose, CA speaking at the 14th Reno Spring Festival in Sparks, NV - May 10th 1985Music: Deep by KaizanBlu
 

I Can't Stay Sober on Yesterday's Spiritual Awakening - AA Speaker - Frank M.

Frank was born in a mental hospital, drank for 23 years to silence the feeling that he was an intruder in every room he walked into, and one hot day in June 1970 the words "Alcoholics Anonymous" entered his mind and he was able to act on them.
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Frank  drank to smash his five senses as fast as he could — his favorite drink was always the next one. He never measured a drink, never counted a pill, and took Ritalin at cocktail parties to postpone blackouts so he could stay conscious a little longer. He changed jobs every 24 months when the lies caught up, ran from anyone who loved him, and treated his psyche like California fault lines — ignoring the pressure until something cracked. One June day in 1970 the words "Alcoholics Anonymous" came into his consciousness and somehow he was able to act on them. He's been sober ever since, and says he needs AA more today than when he walked in — not just to stay sober, but to stay emotionally sober, because he can't stay happy on yesterday's spiritual awakening.Frank M. from New York, NY speaking at Florida Roundup in Miami Beach, FL - March 18th-21st 1993Music: Deep by KaizanBlu
 

My Sponsor Said I Might Be the Only Big Book Someone Ever Sees - AA Speaker - Jan E.

Jan walked into AA court-ordered with spiky hair, told them she wasn't like them, and left — then came back when they were right.
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Jan was an egomaniac with an inferiority complex who gave her neighbor F's at age six just to feel powerful and bit a piece out of someone in a blackout rage in high school. She walked into AA, said "I'm court ordered," told the one woman who approached her to get out of her face, and left. When she came back, a sponsor who called her a sorry son of a bitch wouldn't even let her lie about where she ate lunch. He taught her things that aren't in the Big Book — how to show up when you say you will, how to be present, and how to be a mom. Today she teaches theater, has a husband and four kids around the table, and says the spark is brighter now because it's not her own.Jan E. from Lafayette, LA speaking at the 3rd Anniversary of the Big Easy Group in New Orleans, LA - April 1st 2012Music: Deep by KaizanBlu
 

The Steps Are the Diagnosis, the Prescription, and the Medicine - AA Speaker - David A.

David A. has been sober since 1967 and once fell into an open grave drunk at a funeral he was supposed to carry — this two-part step study is old-school AA at its finest.
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In this two-part step study, David A. walks through all 12 steps the way they were taught in the early days — as the diagnosis, the prescription, and the medicine. Sober since 1967 out of the Preston Group in Dallas, he got drunk getting dressed for a funeral, drove to the cemetery early, and slid into the open grave with two folding chairs while the procession arrived. His sponsor had him take his fifth step at 51 days in a men's room — tell God at the ceiling, tell yourself in the mirror, then come tell me. The 12-step calls are legendary: a naked man with a carbine, a granddaughter found in jail faster than the FBI who later called him from law school graduation, and a wife he got off the phone in 30 seconds flat so the husband's eyes finally opened. Old-school Texas AA storytelling with every step covered.David A. - "A Pathway Through The Steps", 12 Step study recorded at the Memphis Bluff City Fellowship Convention 1997Music: Deep by KaizanBlu
 

I Called My Sponsor From the VIP Suite With a Beer in My Hand - AA Speaker - Ben H.

Ben built a 300-can beer shrine at age seven, called his sponsor from a snowmobile race with a beer in his hand, and walked past his own mother on the street for eight years — until Alcoholics Anonymous became the last house on the block.
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Ben grew up in Jamestown, North Dakota building a 300-can beer shrine at age seven and stealing drinks from the basement to make his paper route go smoother. His first real drunk on black velvet ended with him puking blood and swearing to God he'd never drink again — then chasing that feeling through 24 arrests and a cocaine habit he swore he'd never have. A guy he used to party with took him to a Monday night group where young guys wore suits and ties, and Ben thought it was ridiculous until he realized they had something he didn't. He got a sponsor, called him from a snowmobile race VIP suite with a beer in his hand, and that three-day run turned out to be his last. Today he's rebuilding the relationship with the mom he walked past on the street for eight years, and his son never has to wonder where he is.Ben H. from Jamestown, ND speaking at the Northern Plains Group of Alcoholics Anonymous in Fargo, ND - April 4th 2006Music: Deep by KaizanBlu
 
 

From 56 Pages of Chaos to a Life Beyond Her Wildest Dreams - AA Speaker - Patti O.

She blacked out her past, faked her own death to escape charges, and faced 10 years in prison—yet what finally broke her wasn’t jail… it was the unbearable pain of not drinking and not recovering.
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Pattie’s story is a powerful testament to how far a person can fall—and how profoundly they can rise when they surrender; from a blackout drinker who consumed anything containing alcohol, lived in chaos, and rationalized her way through arrests, violence, and broken relationships, she transformed into a woman of deep honesty, service, and spiritual grounding through the 12 Steps, proving that true recovery isn’t about becoming perfect but becoming real, learning to act her way into right thinking, and allowing others to walk with her through fear and pain; her greatest accomplishment isn’t just decades of sobriety since October 4, 1975, but the life rebuilt through those principles—including raising a son who found his own recovery and giving her the ultimate gift of becoming a grandmother—showing that what once felt like life falling apart was actually life falling into place.Patti O. from Laguna Niguel, CA speaking at the 46th Tri-State Convention in Mt. Vernon, IL - November 4th 2006Music: Deep by KaizanBlu
 
 

From Waking Up in Random Cities to Never Wanting a Drink Again - AA Speaker - Chris B.

He wasn’t a failure—he was successful, respected, and “smart”… until alcohol slowly took everything, leaving him homeless, hopeless, and completely powerless over a mind that kept telling him he’d be fine.
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Chris B delivers a deeply impactful breakdown of the first three steps by sharing how his life spiraled from a promising Wall Street career into blackout drinking, crime, and complete personal collapse, ultimately revealing that alcoholism isn’t just about drinking but a deadly combination of a physical craving and a mental obsession that removes choice entirely; through surrendering his ego, abandoning self-reliance, and learning to trust a Higher Power in action—not theory—he found lasting sobriety and purpose, emphasizing that true recovery comes not from thinking or talking about the steps but living them, and that the greatest transformation in his life has been moving from self-centered survival to helping others, which he identifies as the real key to freedom, fulfillment, and a life worth living.Chris B. from Riverton, NJ speaking on the topic of "Trust God" at the Sea Isle Big Book workshop in Sea Isle, NJ - September 25th 2011Music: Deep by KaizanBlu
 

I Had Ten Meetings a Week and Was Completely Hollow Inside - AA Speaker - Mike L.

Mike was five years sober, going to 10 meetings a week, and completely hollow inside — until the man he disliked most in AA told him he'd missed the entire recovery program.
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Mike did Alcoholics Anonymous the way he did college — signed up for everything, bought the books, threw them in the closet, and started partying. Five years sober, he had the meetings, the service, the sponsees, and was dying of untreated alcoholism in a room full of people who looked happy. The man he disliked most in AA told him something that cracked everything open: sobriety isn't your solution, it's your problem. You've been sober thousands of times — you can't stand life sober. A sponsor named Don told him to pray "God, please teach me about love" and Mike called back two weeks later furious because the only woman he liked had left town and his blood pressure meds made him impotent. Don said the prayer wasn't "God get me a woman." Over the years that prayer unfolded into falling in love with his son, restoring friendship with his ex-wife, and finding Linda — a woman who wrote out the primary purpose for their relationship including the clarity of the diamond. When she died of a stroke, he thought the prayer was over. Then he discovered the next lesson was letting the people of AA love him back.Mike L. from Indianapolis, IN speaking about steps 10 & 11 at the Stateline Retreat in Primm, NV - December 12th-14th 2008Music: Deep by KaizanBlu
 

I Said I'm Fine for 40 Years and Never Meant It Once - AA Speaker - David L.

David spent every Saturday planning how to drown himself and 22 years smiling and saying "I'm fine" — until a sponsor gave him two lines to say to his son and everything cracked open.
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David shares a clear and deeply relatable story about living most of his life believing he simply wasn’t good enough, constantly trying to fix himself by changing external circumstances while never understanding the role alcohol played in his thinking and behavior. For over forty years, he cycled through jobs, relationships, and self-improvement attempts, convinced that if he could just try harder or be different, everything would finally fall into place. It wasn’t until entering treatment and being introduced to Alcoholics Anonymous that he first encountered the idea that alcoholism is a disease rather than a personal failure, a shift that changed everything. Through the Twelve Steps, David began to understand that relief didn’t come from fixing himself, but from accepting his condition, surrendering his own solutions, and learning a new way to live rooted in honesty, humility, and connection with others in recovery.David L. from Holly Springs, NC speaking at the 28th Gopher State Roundup - May 25th-27th 2001Music: Deep by KaizanBlu
 

My Brain Was the Problem, Not Just the Drinking - AA Speaker - Peter M.

Peter went through seven treatment centers, got drunk two days after the fifth one, and was dying in a hallway on the Lower East Side before he found a sponsor who disturbed him on the question of alcoholism and handed him the book.
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Peter is not here to make you comfortable. He went through seven treatment centers and got drunk two days after spending nine weeks in the fifth one. His family thought he was beyond help. He made a plea to God in a filthy hallway on the Lower East Side of Manhattan and got put on a path he's walked for over 18 years since. This is a teaching talk — Peter walks through steps one through seven with the precision of someone who's reworked them many times and believes contemporary AA is handing newcomers a death sentence with "don't drink and go to meetings." He breaks down why the problem is in the mind but the solution isn't, why the fourth step inventory is perfect when you let God write it, and why "Father save me from me" became the truest prayer he's ever said. He's the speaker for the person who's done everything AA told them to do and still can't figure things out. Peter M. from Union, NJ speaking at the Primary Purpose Group in Lynbrook, NY - August 3rd 2006Music: Deep by KaizanBlu